Now that home prices have outstripped affordability for nearly a decade, perhaps it shouldn’t surprise us that some people are ready to blame real estate agents. According to a 2006 Harris poll, real estate agents are among the least-trusted professionals — second only to stockbrokers. Both professions have tapped into the American piggy bank in unprecedented ways; both have the potential to earn oodles of money without years of schooling — simply by closing a few deals.

Excess supply, buyer psychology and tightened underwriting standards in subprime and Alt-A mortgage lending have analysts at Fitch Ratings more pessimistic about the prospects for new-home construction and sales in 2007.

In their latest “Chalk Line” quarterly report on new-home construction and the home-building industry, Fitch analysts forecast new-home sales in 2007 will fall 15 percent, to 902,000. Fitch had previously forecast an 11.5 percent decrease.

That would still be less severe than last year’s 17.9 percent decline in new-home sales. But Fitch is forecasting a 19.9 percent cutback in single-family housing starts for 2007, which fell 15.1 in 2006.